Now With Even More Spurs

I love the Express-News’ sports coverage, particularly its coverage of the Spurs. There’s nothing better than opening the morning paper and seeing a Buck Harvey column about the team. Johnny Ludden, the beat reporter, does a spot-on job following the team on a day-to-day basis and Mike Moinroe covers the big-picture NBA, putting things into perspective without a sniff of homerism (no, that has nothing to do with the Simpsons).

But like any good Spurs fan, I crave more. And so I was thrilled a year or so ago to run across what was then uncreatively called the San Antonio Spurs Blog, one of a growing number of unofficial team blogs run by guys (and it’s mostly guys) with way too much time on their hands. The Spurs blog is run, so far as I can tell, by a guy named Matthew who lives in Seattle and follows the team from afar but with a knowingness that is both impressive but not overwhelming. He also has assigned great nicknames to several of the players. Duncan is Timmeh, Manu The Sickness and Parker the Wee Frenchman. You don’t get that kind of stuff even from Charles Barkley.

The blog recently moved to a new host and also has a new name: Pounding the Rock. It’s still a good site, but while thinking about it I’ve recently realized why, IMHO, blogs will never surpass the good ol’ newspaper.

A story: Last year, during the NBA Finals, I started following a couple of blogs written by Detroit Pistons fans. Both were homers, but it was interesting to follow their arguments and watch the Finals with their perspectives in mind. Until Game 7, that is.

You’ll recall that the Spurs beat the Pistons in that game to win their third NBA championship. I was at the game and it’s one of my best all-time sporting experiences.

Anyway, the next day I logged onto the sites to see what the opposing fan/blogger’s takes on the game and series would be.

Nothing.

Neither had posted the night before, or the next day. Or the next or the next or the next. And so on and so on. Eventually, I stopped checking and haven’t been back since.

Similarly, in January the guy behind Pounding the Rock posted a note saying that he was dealing with “personal issues” to which he was devoting all his “spare energy” and that he didn’t know “when, if ever” he’d resume blogging about the Spurs.

He did eventually return and his postings are as good as ever. My point is, if (gahfabid) something happened to Buck Harvey, Johnny Ludden or Mike Monroe, the paper would find someone to, if not replace them, then at least continue covering the Spurs day after day after day. It’s not as if they’d simply post a note saying, “Sorry, our sportswriter can’t seem to make it to the computer to write/post” and leave the page blank.